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Guildford, July 25th, 2004. The Sharks came into this game tied atop the division with the Cheddar Rockies after last weeks loss to the Rockies (despite the standings still showing the Rockies tie with us, as a win for the Rockies), and swept the season series from the Mavericks, with probably the best display Guildford has faced in the division this season. The Mavericks, with the
Frank Brady Trophy, from the London tournament on show, started the game
with Ross Pennington on the mound, and ex-Bournemouth catcher, Heather
Armstead behind the plate.
In the Maverick half of the first, a Karl Grigor double drove in Tomas Diaz for the Mavericks first run, but then Karl, trying to take too big a lead at second, was picked off in a run down at third, to close out the inning. In the Sharks second, they added two more runs on back to back doubles from Ben Lucola and Chris Lawson, but this time Ross benefited from a couple of ground outs to end the inning. In their half of the second, the Mavericks drew within 8-4, as Lawson, the Bournemouth starter, suddenly lost his control, and walked the first 3 batters, all of who came round to score on Ross Pennington's triple, which would have been in inside the park home run, if he hadn't been thrown out at the plate. This was the closest
the Mavericks were to pull to, as the good work was undone in the third,
as Bournemouth again scored 6 times, benefitting in particular from a
error by centrefielder, Karl Grigor, which allowed two runs to score,
compounding the 3 walks given up ahead of this.
Trailing 14-4, the Mavericks pulled back two more runs, as Karl scored on Peter Badenhuizen's RBI double, and Peter himself scored, as a pitch got away from Sharks catcher Ben Moody. Karl Grigor, had relieved Ross at the end of the third inning, and kept the Sharks to just 3 runs in the 4th, although not particularly helped by a couple of chances that went begging on the infield, although the Sharks again showed some good baserunning, to take advantage of a couple of walks. The Mavericks then pulled to within 6, as 4 runs scored in their
half of the 4th.
However, with a
Guildford comeback looking on the cards, having pulled it back to 16-10,
the Sharks then showed just why they are atop the First Division, as
they scored 5 runs off Karl, in the top of the 5th, including their
second HR of the game - a 3 run shot by Ben Lucola. Although Karl then
proceded to strike out the side, the damage was done, and the Mavericks
never got that close again. Unfortunately,
Guildford lost Ross Pennington for the game in the 5th inning, as he
slid awkwardly back into first on a pick-off attempt, and dislocated his
shoulder.
Bournemouth had tacked on a couple of runs in their 6th + 7th innings, as they got a couple of fortuitous hits of Henry Collins, who had come in to replace Karl by this time. Their running game was however stopped stone dead, as with Karl now catching, the new Maverick battery, threw West out at second base by a good couple of feet. Needing a couple of runs to extend the game into the 8th, the Mavericks fell short, and still remain winless on the season. However after a friendly against the Richmond Riverdogs next week, games with Croydon and Richmond Dragons, should prove very competitive. Maverick MVP: Peter Badenhuizen |
However it was the Sharks who broke from the
gates first, scoring 6 times in the first inning, including a Home Run
from 2B Mike West, as Ross struggled to find any control, although he
did close out the inning with a couple of strikeouts.
That said, the outfield
made up for that miss, as Gavin Tunnell, snared a difficult line drive,
which got to him very quickly.
Gavin
and Heather scored as Lawson continued to struggle with his control -
walking in a run, and giving up an RBI single to Tomas Diaz. Guildford
should perhaps have made it more than this, but for not the first time
in the game, Ben Mullard wound up being thrown out at third, although on
this occasion, could at least blame the newly laid Red-Gras taking
something off his slide, as he ended up a good foot short. Of course
with the amount of dust being thrown up, with every slide, it was almost
worth the risk, as the umpires would have had a tough time seeing the
plays.
Although
he came round to score, as part of 4 run bottom of the 5th, he had to
leave the game shortly thereafter. Another RBI single from Tomas
Diaz, and another failure to reach third by Ben Mullard, left Guildford
trailing 21-14. These were to prove the last runs of the game for
Guildford, as the side went down in order in the 6th, and despite
Michael Burdett being hit by a pitch, and Ben getting a walk to first
(and managing to stay on the bases for once! - or at least until Tomas
grounded into a fielders choice at second), the Mavericks were unable to
score.
